


Pack

by InsaneJuliann



Series: Better Run, Better Run [6]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, Protective Eddie Diaz, Werewolf AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29419572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneJuliann/pseuds/InsaneJuliann
Summary: Eddie's going to do what he can to help Buck, whether that means making sure their teammates aren't going to hold Buck's secret against him or working to get Buck to believe he's not less of a 'wolf for his inability to shift. But it's going to take more than just Eddie to do that, so he calls up the best help he knows.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Better Run, Better Run [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795057
Comments: 36
Kudos: 204





	Pack

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to post this Thursday, but the past two nights have actually been pretty busy, and I was running errands this afternoon. Better late than never right?

Later, when it was quiet between calls and no one was too close to eavesdrop, Eddie pinned Hen and Chim with a hard look. 

“If you’ve got a problem with what Buck told you earlier, you better get over it fast.”

Chimney gave him a disbelieving look. “A problem? Eddie, he thinks a curse could actually make him  _ not shift _ . How am I not supposed to have a problem with that?”

Eddie relaxed, letting out a quiet, relieved breath. “I meant with him being half-wolf, with a mother that’s a Hunter.”

Chim waved his hand, as if to physically brush that all aside. “Whatever. I’m more worried about what kind of nonsense his parents clearly stuffed in his head. If his mom’s a hunter, she should know better! Magic doesn’t  _ work like that _ . What does he even mean, he’s cursed to disappoint people?”

Hen was watching Eddie, eyes steady - not quite a threat but almost enough to put Eddie on edge. “You going to have a problem with Bobby?”

Eddie couldn’t quite stop the low growl, the brief snarl that tugged his lips from his teeth, before he smoothed it back out. Hen gave him a pointed stare.

“That sounded like a yes,” Chim said.

“I can be professional.” Eddie grimaced. “So long as he doesn’t talk shit about Buck in front of me,” he admitted.

Laughing, Chimney clapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, he’ll get over whatever it is. He likes the kid too much to be upset for very long.”

“Time doesn’t mean the same to Fae as it does to the rest of us,” Eddie grumbled, casting a glance down to the lower level, where Bobby’s office was. “And even a short amount of time can hurt enough.”

“Athena knows?” Hen asked, and when Eddie nodded she said with absolute certainty, “Then she’ll make sure Bobby gets his head out of his ass about this.”

“Maybe  _ Bobby  _ can get Buck to believe-”

“What happened with Bobby’s made Buck think this curse thing applies to people he even just thinks of as family.” Eddie dragged a hand over his face, slumping back against the couch. Exhaustion and pain weighed down on him, like a physical thing. “Do you know what it’s like, to have someone you consider Pack watch you like they’re waiting for you to get upset with them for every little possible mistake? Buck got one of the questions he helped Chris with on his homework wrong and looked horrified, like Chris or I was gonna blame him. I told him it happens, especially with how they keep changing how they want kids to even do math. He watched me for a few minutes like I was going to say ‘gotcha’.”

Hen made a wincing expression. Chim’s face scrunched up, but he just shook his head. “And Maddie thinks it too?”

“From what Buck says, yeah.” Eddie straightened, looking between them again. “I can’t keep being the only one to tell him it’s not true.”

“We’re on it,” Chimney said immediately. “I’ll argue laws of magic with him until I lose my voice if I have to.”

“We’ll look out for him,” Hen agreed.

Eddie would probably need to warn her about Buck’s habit of referring to himself as a mongrel. He didn’t want her taken by surprise by it, like he had been, and reacting poorly. But that wasn’t something to spread around, especially to people who wouldn’t understand fully just how nasty a word for someone like Buck it was. 

Though… fuck. If Maddie also used it, which if Buck’s family had called both of them that, she probably would… maybe he  _ should _ give Chim a heads up.

Eddie’d try to ask Buck about it, later. Maybe talk to Abuela and get her advice.

“Abuela,” Eddie greeted when she answered the phone. He leaned a shoulder against the porch railing, watching Buck play wrestle with a shifted Chris in the backyard.

He smiled, seeing how  _ careful _ Chris made sure to be with his fangs.

“Edmundo,” she said, warm and pleased. “How is my favorite grandson?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I’m your only grandson,” he said, as he always did. All his cousins were girls, after all.

She chuckled, the fond sound rolling over Eddie, a sensation of warmth not unlike stepping inside after a cold and wet night. “What is it you need, Eddito?”

Frowning a bit, Eddie shifted again, half turning as if it would keep the conversation from being overheard by the two in the yard. “My friend,” he said quietly. “The one I told you about?”

“The halfbreed,” Abuela said evenly.

Eddie sighed. “I didn’t tell you everything,” he admitted. “And I’m not sure what to do anymore. I need your wisdom.” He hoped using the more formal phrasing would let her know how serious this was, to him.

She made a soft noise, considering. “Is he there now?”

“Yeah, playing with Chris.” Eddie cast a glance back at them again, unable to help smiling. Something must have come through in his voice, because Abuela made another noise.

“Keep him there,” she decided. “I will meet him, before I decide.”

Eddie closed his eyes. He swallowed. Part of him felt relieved, grateful… and the rest of him worried. “He… please just, don’t….”

“Eddito,” she said quietly, when he didn’t continue. 

“He doesn’t mean to,” he said quickly. “He won’t - he doesn’t  _ know _ …”

“Know what?”

“Anything,” Eddie said, a bit of a strained, almost half-hysterical kind of laugh in the word. “He doesn’t know  _ anything _ Abuela. Please, don’t judge him for it.”

“Oh, Edmundo,” she sighed. She almost sounded sad. “One hour.”

Eddie swallowed, thanked her quietly, and hung up. He pocketed his phone before heading into the yard, staring down at where Buck was on his back in the grass acting like Chris was somehow pinning him there. He tilted his head.

Buck glanced at him and held out a (dramatic) beseeching hand. “Eddie, help.”

Eddie gave a thoughtful hum, tilting his head the other way. “I don’t know… looks like Chris has you fair and square.”

Buck’s head dropped back, a resigned groan coming from him. “Fine. I accept my fate.”

Chris sat back a bit, only his front paws on Buck’s torso, and let his tongue loll out. Eddie laughed too.

“And what fate is that?”

“Well, the winner was supposed to make the other cookies, so… looks like I’m to go slave away in a kitchen this afternoon.”

Chris gave a happy yip. Buck shifted up on his elbows, reaching out to ruffle around Chris’s ears. His smile was almost painfully fond. 

“Better wash up first,” Eddie suggested. Not just because he didn’t think anyone should be making stuff in the kitchen after rolling around on the ground without a quick rinse, but because Abuela was coming and Eddie wanted the first impression to be as good as he could make it. Buck thankfully didn’t seem to pick up on his nerves in any way, and Chris was too distracted by the thought of cookies.

Eddie channeled that nervous energy into straightening up his living room and kitchen. Buck rinsed off quickly, pulling on a shirt he’d left some other time and Eddie had just kept there for something like this. Chris was dressed and sitting at the table, eagerly watching as Buck started making the batter.

He perked up when Abuela started up the porch steps, and grinned when she knocked.

Buck cast Eddie a curious frown. Eddie gave him a smile, knowing it was probably a little tight, and went to open the door quickly.

Abuela stepped inside, setting her purse on the hallway table, and reaching up, gesturing imperiously for Eddie to lean down. He let her grab his face, pulling it down until she could press a kiss to his forehead and murmur a greeting. He responded, a bit on the formal side.

She gave him a knowing kind of look when they separated.

“Bisabuela!” Chris cheered, appearing in the kitchen doorway. Not more than a few seconds later, Buck’s head poked out behind him, eyes a little wide and panicked. He looked at Eddie in askance. Eddie tried to look reassuring.

Buck ducked back out of sight, but only for a few moments - possibly to put down a bowl or stop the cookie making process or something. When he stepped out into the hallway hesitantly, almost looking painfully uncertain and wary, Eddie couldn’t stop himself from stepping closer if he had tried.

“I can - I should go?” Buck said uncertainty. 

Eddie shook his head, setting a hand on Buck’s upper arm - not quite holding but ready to if Buck looked like he’d try to leave. 

“You should meet her.”

“I should -” Buck cast him a wide-eyed, disbelieving look.

“And this is your Buck?” Abuela asked, stepping closer - Chris practically clinging to her side, giggling as she all but pulled him along with her.

Abuela was stronger than she looked, after all.

“Yep!” Chris said. “He was making me cookies.”

“Hmm.” She cast Chris a fond glance. “That must mean all your chores are done. Room clean, laundry put away, all of that.”

Chris stilled, and then disentangled from her. “Almost. It will be - before cookies!”

She chuckled, watching him go - and then pinned Buck with a glance. Buck stilled, a lot like Chris had.

“I am Isabel,” she said, holding out a hand. “Edmundo’s grandmother.”

“Hi,” Buck said. His voice didn’t quite crack but it was close enough. “I’m Buck. But you, uh… knew that.”

She nodded slowly. “Yes. I’ve been hearing a lot about you - from both Edmundo and Christopher.”

“Right.” Buck glanced at Eddie helplessly. He almost looked hurt or upset, like he had expected to be kept a secret - had wanted to be.

Eddie shrugged. “Abuela’s head of the pack,” he explained. “It’s right to tell her of others who are spending time with us, who aren’t of the pack.”

“But I’m-” Thankfully Buck cut himself off, possibly catching the narrowing of Eddie’s eyes, and glanced uneasily towards Abuela. “I’m not a wolf though.”

“Edmundo tells me you’re a halfbreed.”

“I - well, yeah, but I can’t shift.”

“So?”

Buck frowned a little, clearly feeling wrongfooted. “So… I’m not a werewolf?”

“You’re a halfbreed, or you are not wolf. You cannot be both.” She raised a brow. “Was one of your parents a wolf or not?”

“Yes,” Buck said, almost mumbled. “But I can’t shift.”

Her eyes narrowed a bit and Buck’s immediately darted away. Eddie swallowed, glancing at Abuela, who did not seem to relent one bit. 

“I did not ask you, Buck, if you could shift or not. I asked if you are a halfbreed or not.”

“I am,” he mumbled, still not looking up. Eddie only felt an aching kind of pain at watching it all, feeling a whine swell up in his throat that it took effort to hold back. 

“Okay then,” Abuela said firmly. She eyed Buck even more closely. “Edmundo also says you do not know anything.”

“Abuela,” Eddie hissed, embarrassed.

Buck flinched. It made Eddie twitch towards him, and he only stopped because Abuela gestured for him not to. It wasn’t easy though.

“Um. Not… not really?” Buck got quieter. “Just what my mom taught me.”

“Was she the wolf?” Abuela asked curiously.

Eddie tensed. 

“No.” Buck was practically whispering. “She was - is, I guess. A Hunter.” 

Abuela was quiet. Her sharp gaze moved from Buck to Eddie, and he just looked back pleadingly.

“A Hunter only knows what they need to find and hurt us,” she said, eyes moving back to Buck. “They cannot know what it means to be wolf, unless they are made Pack.” She considered him, then added, “And I do not think she was.”

“No ma’am.” Buck’s posture was… dejected. Eddie made an aborted move towards him, before casting a desperate glance at Abuela.

Finally,  _ finally _ she relented with a nod.

Eddie grabbed Buck’s hand, squeezing, pulling him closer. “Hey,” he murmured, close to Buck’s ear. “Hey, it’s okay. Buck, it’s okay.”

“I should go,” he repeated. He sounded resigned.

“Stay,” Abuela ordered, not even pretending not to overhear them. “Edmundo wants me to meet you. And you promised Christopher cookies, didn’t you?” She raised a brow. 

Buck slowly glanced up, and after a moment, nodded.

“Then you will stay,” she said simply, and headed straight into the kitchen.

Buck glanced at Eddie and in a hushed voice said, “Your grandma is terrifying.”

“You’ve no idea,” Eddie said, grinning. 

“Stop whispering and get in here!”

It wasn’t so bad once Christopher returned and Buck was able to focus more on him and the baking of those cookies - peanut butter chocolate chip. Chris spent his time trying to help Buck and sneaking chocolate chips from the bag, and talking to Abuela about his summer so far, about all the time he’d gotten to spend with Buck lately, about his latest video game obsession. She smiled at him and encouraged the conversation the whole time, even when Eddie knew she really had little idea what he was talking about regarding the video game. 

He was aware she was also watching Buck the whole time. Subtly, of course. Eddie wasn’t sure if Buck had picked up on it or if he was just uncomfortable being around someone he didn’t know - another  _ wolf _ he didn’t know. Considering that before coming to the 118, Buck’s only experience with their kind was the pack his father came from, Eddie doubted Buck would feel comfortable around other werewolves.

“These are good,” Abuela complimented when the cookies were done. Chris was trying to shove an entire cookie straight into his glass of milk. There was going to be crumbs everywhere, Eddie just knew it. “Did someone teach you?”

“Uh… no, not really,” Buck said. He glanced down at the cookies, then back up at Abuela. “I taught myself - you know, online videos and recipes and stuff.”

“Very good,” she nodded. “Do you cook as well?” She cast a sly look at Eddie. “Maybe you will have better luck teaching Edmundo than his mother did.”

“Abuela.” Eddie rolled his eyes. “That joke is so old.”

“Dad was supposed to help with a birthday once, and he burned the cupcakes,” Chris told Buck knowingly. “Abuela banned him from the kitchen for a whole year.”

“It wasn’t a whole year, it wasn’t even Abuela’s house. Adrianna exaggerates,” Eddie insisted. “And they weren’t like, black burnt. Just…”

“Crispy.” Abuela shook her head. “And hard as a rock.”

Eddie sighed, shaking his head. He played it up, just a bit, because he could see the small smile on Buck’s face from the corner of his eye and that made the usual teasing more than worth it.

“I’m no chef but I can do okay making dinner and stuff,” Buck said. “Bobby’s taught me a few things - he’s really good.”

“Bobby… your captain?” Abuela asked, glancing at Eddie to check. Eddie nodded. “Does your team know?” she asked curiously, turning to Buck. “I know there’s another ‘wolf on the team, but….”

Buck looked down again. “I uh, told them a couple days ago,” he mumbled. “Hen and Chim didn’t seem that mad.”

“They’re not,” Eddie agreed.

Abuela’s brows rose - clearly she hadn’t missed the exclusion of Bobby. “Ah, well, it’s still not an old thing, cooperating with the others.” She waved her hand. “Used to be, we all kept to ourselves and never spoke of what we were with the other kinds. Wolves kept to wolves, witches to witches. Fae are still more like that than not, but to them, time is different. Change is hard.”

“Really?” Buck asked, glancing up with a little frown. “I didn’t know that.”

“That we kept to ourselves?” Abuela nodded. “I was only a teenager when it started to change. Very slowly, and not without some rather… vocal and physical disagreements. Lots of differences to work out, to learn. But better us together against the others, than us alone against all, we decided.”

“Strength in numbers.”

“Yes.” She gave Buck a pleased smile. “And we bring different skills together, help in ways that others can’t. Witches with their look-away charms so packs can gather more safely, Fae with their portals for quick getaways, the strength of packs for protecting or fighting.” She shrugged. “We learned to look out for each other. Still not as easy for us older ones as I think it is for you younger things." She gave them a slightly sharp, teasing grin.   


"You'll outlive us all," Eddie joked, as most of them did. 

Abuela sniffed, lips pursing. "Yes, well, who else will keep you all in line, hm?"

Eddie grinned.

By the time Abuela left, insisting that she couldn’t stay longer or intrude for dinner after spending a few hours that afternoon in their company already, Eddie was pretty sure it was going to be okay. He walked her out to her car, and she stopped before getting in, giving the house a thoughtful look.

“There are packs that would take how that boy was treated as reason enough to overthrow a pack.”

Eddie swallowed. “His own dad called him a mongrel, Abuela,” he said quietly. “He didn’t even know it wasn’t the actual term for his type of wolf - he was calling himself it. Still slips, sometimes.”

“Habits,” she sighed. “The worst ones are always hardest to break.” She tsked. “You’ll set him straight.”

“That’s… not all.”

Abuela gave him an unamused look.

“He thinks he’s cursed,” Eddie said, a bit quickly. “His parents told him it his whole life - even his sister thinks it’s true. They told him he was cursed to be a disappointment. They don’t even have a good reason why - his mom I guess says it was a witch, and his dad claims it was an unlucky star.”

Abuela muttered some very nasty insults under her breath, eyes narrowed and gaze locked on the house again. “You will have your work cut out for you then.”

“He thinks it applies to everyone he cares about, that he even starts to think of as family.” Eddie knew he sounded a bit desperate, but he couldn’t help it. “He thinks  _ I’m _ going to hate him one day too, because of the curse.”

“Then you simply prove him wrong.”

“Abuela-”

“You cannot undo a lifetime of belief in a few months,” she said, almost gently scolding. “Especially not when it’s something as finicky as a curse.”

“He’s not cursed!” Eddie snapped. Abuela gave him a flat, unimpressed look and he wilted. “He thinks the curse is why he can’t shift, and that it’s why people leave him, and that he’s always not going to be enough.”

“Then you don’t leave him, and you make it clear that he is fine the way he is.” She shrugged, as if it was that easy. “It is not complicated, just tedious work. Maybe a lifetime worth of it.” She gave him a shrewd look. “But that’s not the problem, hm?” 

Eddie shifted on his feet, not sure what to say. 

Softening into a smile, Abuela muttered his name fondly and brought him down for a kiss to the forehead in farewell. 

“You have good instincts, Edmundo. You always have. Just do what you have been, and know you have the Pack with you always.”

“Yeah?” Eddie swallowed.

Abuela’s smile was wide, bringing out the crinkles at her eyes, the deep laugh-lines in her cheeks. “Of course. Just be sure not to hide your Buck away for too much longer. I can’t promise nosy packmates will stay away for more than a couple weeks waiting for an introduction.” She gave him a pointed look. “And this time, you explain to him what an Introduction entails, instead of springing one on him without warning.”

“He wouldn’t have - he’d have just run,” Eddie tried to defend himself. “Or he’d have tried to act how he thought you wanted him to.”

She shook her head, sighing, but was smiling again. She looked fondly exasperated if anything. “You will explain to him next time,” she ordered. “He can’t learn the proper ways if you don’t teach them.”

“Okay, Abuela,” Eddie agreed. He couldn’t stop grinning.

She gave him one last amused, fond smile, before getting into her car and leaving. Eddie watched her go from the porch steps, before he bounded up and inside. 

No one would dare argue now that he had Abuela’s approval. 

It only made official what Eddie had already known. Buck was Pack. 

Inside, Buck and Chris were already pulling what they needed to make dinner from the fridge and cupboards. Eddie watched them, still grinning, for a few moments before he went to join them. 

Just because he wasn’t  _ great  _ at cooking didn’t mean he couldn’t cook at all or couldn’t help. 

Buck glanced sidelong at him when he joined them, but didn’t say anything in front of Christopher. It was only when Chris got bored of helping and went to play his video game that Buck spoke.

“You knew she was coming over.”

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed easily. “She wanted to meet you. I  _ wanted _ her to meet you.”

Buck didn’t look angry. Still, there was some expression on his face Eddie didn’t like, not just because it put that wrinkle between his brows.

“You should have told me,” was all he said finally. “I don’t want to… embarrass you or something.”

“You didn’t - and you wouldn’t,” Eddie insisted. He turned down the heat on the stove, leaving the meat to simmer, and leaned his hip against the counter, meeting Buck’s eyes squarely. “I know your dad’s pack was shitty, Buck. I get that they probably held every little misstep against you, or judged you harshly, or something. But I won’t let that happen here. If you do make some huge faux pas, I’ll let you know but I’m not gonna be mad.” He searched for the right words. “No one ever taught you like they should have. It’s not your fault if you don’t know everything - you’re just gonna be learning it all later than most of our kind do.”

Buck looked like he thought of saying something but stopped, lips pressed a little thin. 

“Abuela likes you,” Eddie said into the quiet. He smirked when surprise flashed briefly across Buck’s face. “Pretty sure if your dad or his pack was close enough she’d be going to give them a piece of her mind.”

Buck rolled his eyes, overdramatic, as if that would keep Eddie from noticing the flush on his cheeks. “You Diazes,” he muttered. “I’m hardly defenseless, you know.”

“I know.” Eddie softened, knew he looked probably sickeningly fond. “Doesn’t mean we don’t want to look out for you anyway. It’s what Pack does - what family does.”

Eddie expected it, and wasn’t surprised by the flicker of unease as Buck probably thought about the curse, before quickly seeming to pull himself back together and giving Eddie a teasing look. “You just like having a practically live-in babysitter.”

“It does make the morning rush easier,” Eddie mused, letting Buck shift the subject. He didn’t tell Buck that they loved having him there in their space. He didn’t say that so far as he cared, Buck could stay as long and as often as he wanted. Eddie certainly wasn’t planning to kick him out anytime soon.

Straightening, Eddie stepped forward and ruffled Buck’s hair. This close, all Eddie could smell was how much Buck smelled like him and Chris and their home. It felt right. 

“Now if only you could learn to make good coffee,” he teased.

Buck swatted at Eddie’s hand and gave him a petulant look. “Your coffee machine is evil.”

“Uh huh, keep telling yourself that.”

Later that night, Chris taking his bath before bed and the kitchen all cleaned up already, Eddie fell onto the couch next to Buck.

"Abuela kinda got on my case for not giving you a good heads up, you know," he said.

Buck glanced at him, brows raising a bit.

"She told me I had better give you a proper explanation, before another Introduction." He licked his lips. "And you were right, I probably should have told you she was coming... I just didn't want you to try to leave. Like I said, I wanted you two to meet."

Buck shifted on the couch, turning so he was facing Eddie more fully, and frowned like he was confused. "Why?"

"Abuela's Pack," Eddie said, a bit helpless. "She's head of the Pack, the one we all look to for guidance and assurance. And... it felt wrong, not having her meet you." He made sure every bit of surety and conviction was in his voice as he could as he looked Buck dead in the eyes and said, "You're Pack. You've been mine and Chris' for a while."

Buck's cheeks were flushed and he looked away first. "Eddie..." He took a deep breath and let it out heavily. "I don't want to ruin things."

"Like what?" Eddie asked quietly. "You're not going to drive Chris and I away somehow. We love you, and I don't see much changing that. And _my_ Pack isn't going to turn you away. Not just because Abuela's given her acceptance of you, but because they're gonna see what we see - that you're a good guy, that you care about people and you want to keep everyone you can safe."

"I'm - I'm not as great as you make that sound," Buck protested weakly. "I'm kind of an asshole sometimes, and-"

"You're not perfect," Eddie interrupted. "But no one _is_ Buck and no one expects you to be. Not here." He reached out, curling his hand around the side of Buck's neck, digging his fingers into the back more than he usually let himself. Even he could hear the bit of growl under his words when he said, "You're ours now. I don't give a shit what your dad's pack said, you're worthy of being Pack and we're keeping you."

Buck swallowed. Sniffed a bit, quietly. His eyes were just a little wide, and locked onto Eddie's - shocked or desperate or... something. 

Eddie gave a little shake with his hand. "Got it? Pack, Buck. Ours."

"...Pack," Buck mumbled, blinking a few times rapidly. "Yeah. Got it."

Eddie hummed, made no mention of the way Buck's voice shook faintly, and gave one last, firm squeeze.

"Good."


End file.
